honestly if it is it'd be fucking bad. all this "hype" time for a game is never good. the more time you spend on a game, the more likely people think "ah dude I bet HL3 is gonna have like, a FUCKIN TERRABYTE of cool shit lol"

all this "hype" time for a game is never good. the more time you spend on a game,

They've also heavily implied they weren't working on any games throughout that time. So, yet again, no, people know there wasn't "more time" spent on the game, because there wasn't.They never generated any hype for it themselves. People are just hopping on any sort of potential information they can find and spread it like wildfire. And it's never words out of Valve's mouth either. "Oh I found this file!!! Half-life 3 confirmed???"